The public opinion is predominantly negative towards the US decision to revoke visas for Chinese students. Critics argue that this policy is self-sabotaging, harming the US's global position in education and technology. Concerns are raised about economic losses, damage to US-China relations, and loss of talent to other countries. Additionally, the policy is perceived as discriminatory, undermining American values of diversity and openness. While some support the move as safeguarding national security, the majority view it as destructive, with historical parallels drawn to exclusionary practices.

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Chinese Students and Academics

US Educational Institutions

Chinese Government

&gt;U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday the United States will start "aggressively" revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.

Hard to express how insane this is. People having their visas revoked for political speech was already deeply horrifying, but revoking them just because someone is working in a "critical" field is special kind of dumb. I'll get to the cruelty in a second, but if you think the field is critical, this is the absolute worst thing you can do. Abruptly removing talented experts who are making progress in the area for no freaking reason. My lab would be severely impaired if we lost our Chinese students. And the end goal is for these talented people to work in Asia or Europe instead of the US I guess? Absolute self sabotage. Not to mention the national security loss from creating a hugely negative impression on people who'd previously generally been positive towards the US, come to learn the language, culture, have friends here, etc.

It's just unbelievably cruel too. You invest so much of your life into this, especially for a PhD, and to just lose it half way through because of your nationality is outrageous.

Thunderplant

Who knew there would be a modern day version of the Chinese exclusion act…

AskSouthern158

We somehow figured out how to brain drain ourselves. Brilliant work.

Nvenom8

Significant_Alps9395

Wasn’t affirmative action overturned because it was argued that Asian students weren’t receiving equal admissions treatment? How funny America is…

Holiday-Home9073

This is despicable and will only further cripple the US's position as a leader in research and scientific advancement, and racism is the basis not national security.

I work on graduate education, have for decades, and its so hard to counsel and console students and faculty on all this upheaval when the goalpost keeps getting moved day to day, there's so much uncertainty, which will only lead to a brain drain as more academics and scholars elect to study elsewhere where the can pursue their research in a more secure, safe, and sane academic environment.

I can't believe how quickly the US is going backwards, then I look at who is in the White House and can believe it.

gambitgrl

Unless there's a court order(that's followed) I suspect that this is going to be semi permanent while other international students are let in. Probably once enough Gulf State princes get ahold of him and complain about their kids not going to Georgetown the general ban will be lifted with a carve out for China.  Winnie the Pooh seems to be the only dictator Mango Mussolini dislikes.

Yes I know that was a bit unprofessional; I'm so beaten down and it's only May.

WillitsThrockmorton

crimsonraiden

No more free market, instead the U.S. is heading towards a mixed command economy.

viewerx3

“First they came for the…. And I did not speak out”

breadexpert69

As if healthcare in America wasn't already terrible. Any decent specialist out there—especially vascular surgeons—are predominantly foreign/were international students

showmenemelda

God, they’re so dumb and short-sighted.  You know where strict meritocracy really pays off?  Basic research.  Seems like they seek out the last few things we’re doing well and blow them up.

OptimumFrostingRatio

It never ceases to amaze me--MAGA can always find a new way to try to make the country as dumb as they are.

FearlessWindow1176

CassiopeiaTheW

My best friend from high school is originally from Hong Kong, came to the US as a foreign exchange student in high school and lived with my family for a time. She went to college here and now is starting a phd program in august. She's lived here since she was 14. Her whole world is here. We are terrified and heartbroken. Please, if you are white and/or privileged, please check in on your friends and let them know that you stand by them and will fight for them. This is fascism. We must fight back.

lavender_photos

Even someone aggressively anti-communist would want active CCP members on U.S. soil, building friendships and having positive experiences. 

Does theft and espionage occur? Absolutely. 

Do Taiwanese professors teach Mandarin to students who can get 50k and free travel abroad to learn via immersion? Also absolutely.

This is purely Rubio being a shill and pandering to the MAGA base to distract them from the fact that there may be no need to haul semis full of shit across the country soon.

AdSeparate871

THIS IS WHAT WE GET FOR BEING UNINVOLVED PUNKS. How many times did you vote between college and grad school? How often did you look up your candidates? How often have you discussed voting actively with your colleagues. None of this crap happens in a vacuum.

We are in charge of bringing the fed to task no matter how hard it is. Civil initiative is not hypothetical, but active. And no, ‘you’ll never get everyone’ is not an answer. We built this country on all the startup energy in the world, now we’re twiddling our thumbs cus it got hard?? 

I say this as someone who recognized we were headed this way A DECADE AGO and got ridicule in response. We’re gonna have to show up at meetings and do the boring civic work of cleaning up this mess. Put up or die mad about it.

rsofgeology

Sea_Curve_1620

This was bound to happen. America had no other choice but to take this step to be honest.

helic_vet

[deleted]

Don’t at me but - from the article: Yaqiu Wang, a U.S.-based human rights researcher who came to the U.S. from China as a student, said Beijing had indeed taken advantage of U.S. academic openness to engage in espionage and intellectual property theft.

CauliflowerOwn3319

With China being a super power and supposedly by all accounts have a great education system why would they come here to learn from our universities. They should be able to get just as good if not better in China.

Amars78

It’s almost like they want to provoke a war to distract everyone and consolidate support.

As an undergraduate I was screwed over by a PhD candidate who was a Chinese national.  The dude didn’t give a shit about his job as an instructor and would always complain about students bothering him. 

He outsourced his work(grading lab exams) to his buddy.  There was a major screwup in the grading process and almost derailed my upcoming graduation.  

The actual professor who was in charge used this person as a guest instructor. They wouldn’t admit their PhD candidate was capable of a lapse in judgment.  I had to appeal to the department head/deans office to correct the mistake, which was completed after a brief investigation.  I got my A in that course and  graduated a few weeks later.  

This guy never took responsibility for his fuckup but since his project was bringing in money, the university didn’t care. 

So honestly I’m neutral on this one.

amathrowaway2004

As a Chinese international student who only started their Masters here last fall, what a fun time to be in America😃

ZoetropeTY

What are the details on this? Revoking all? Some? What criteria for getting revoked?

Sylli17

The CCP was working night and for a solution to brain drain - the US just handed it to them on a silver platter

YamborginiLow

Efficient_Resist_287

“In the 2019–2020 academic year, Chinese students comprised 35% of all international students in the U.S., contributing approximately $15.9 billion to the U.S. economy. With 372,532 Chinese students enrolled that year, this averages to about $42,700 per student annually, encompassing tuition, housing, food, transportation, and other living expenses .”

Brit here. Our unis will take them!

WantWantShellySenbei

Okay this is without a doubt a stupid move by Trump. Fuck that shit lol. Trump is retarded on this one.

Own_Worldliness_9297

INB4 MAGAs justify it by saying it’s gonna block IP theft. 

Undergrads, who this will impact the most, don’t have access to any meaningful IP. 

Grads and Postdocs, already don’t leave the US because they don’t want to risk it. Also almost all their research is open source. 

Professors, who actually have access to the “IP” and understand it fully, aren’t affected by this. 

Most IP is transferred by businesses. Not universities. 

“Durr take our IP” is the new “Durr take our jerbs”.

LittleBirdyLover

The first time I learned about the Chinese Exclusion Act, I was really sad to see how our past government could exclude a whole group of people. Now it’s happening again, and the only attention I see about it is a minor Reddit post. Sorry to all of the Chinese students who were eager to study here.

Simple-Park3717

Every US company that has business in China has connections with the CCP, and they have more to sell than the students...

No-Artist-7710

How cooked are we 🤔

https://preview.redd.it/zq8v9vp4bm3f1.jpeg?width=1125&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=1c9bd7631be6cc888a24072b7fc4249f82e94b74

RocketMan1088

Otherwise-Sun2486

The facsists often use excuses to exploit their evils and racism.   Students here are for studying and experiencing a different life and culture.  All they are studying are open sourced research contribution to human as a whole.   Only people with clearance can work on sensitive information.

justingreg

So sending smart people away from an economy ?

seanmonaghan1968

Before the Chinese exclusion act, there was People v. Hall (1854), which barred Chinese individuals from testifying against white people in court, and which was effectively overturned by subsequent legal reforms.

Elegant-Moose4101

A lot of people here saying there is a lot of IP theft, but that’s so vague, and no sources. It makes me think there is more to this than is being discussed.

Detoid

Perfect, chinese students can now study at the competitive and prestigious local universities.

depwnz

How the hell are we supposed to employ people in the more technical fields?  American's aren't getting Masters degrees to work the jobs that need them, which is why it's all H1B now.  We're just shutting down our own production of highly educated individuals who will be entering the work force in the future.

fapimpe

pomegranate7777

So, as per the article:

&gt; There were 277,000 Chinese students at US colleges in 2024

So those students spend top out-of-state tuition. At UCLA, that's about 260K over 4 years.

**WITH THIS ACTION, TRUMP IS COSTING US UNIVERSITIES ABOUT $72,020,000,000**

But that's not all. See, as per yesterday's news, Trump admin is suspending all international student visas pending a "social media review system".  Meaning, our universities are going to be short hundreds of billions of dollars in the next 4 years.

(edited "CLA" to "UCLA")

jiaxingseng

Soon no one will want to be in US anyway.

nightknight275

the US has truly learned nothing from the story of qian xuesen

SenpaiBunss

Beyond ridiculous. The target should only be the bad apples.

ActiveProfile689

If China is so great and superior why do the CCP allow rich people to send their children to the United States to be educated? Surely the schools in the US are not better than in China and they will learn Western values that the CCP hates.

masspromo

My question is this...does china allow American students to go to chinese universities and work in critical fields in china? My understanding is they don't so in a way this is a bit reciprocal to what China already does. 

I recognize far fewer want to go to china then come to usa but the point is still the same.

kalechipz87

They’ll also revoke green cards for Americans with chinese faces and it was a mistake.

CreepyDepartment5509

To China I say.  
Dont shoot. Let them burn.

No-Muscle-3318

This isn't a smart policy. We gain a lot from Chinese talent staying in the US. 

  
We should instead be much more effective at vetting and preventing espionage.

TheWiseSquid884

Several years ago I worked with a Dutch professor in the Netherlands at TU Delft where they had a plethora of chinese international students. The professor was very open minded idealistic i'm constantly praised the chinese for their intelligence etc. 

He then immigrated to the U.S. and received some kind of debriefing from the FBI. Whatever they revealed to him, completely changed his outlook, and he started asking me not even to share certain technical tools with former students who were back in china asking me for stuff.

dcooper8

Lest we forget China has been pushing out westerners in a draconian fashion for nearly a decade now.

Skoob303

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What I think will be interesting is what China does in response.

National_Farm8699

it's not a surprise at all, back then in Trump first presidency, he had done this before, last time was particular target to our students, yep, our students went to the UK instead, it's really unfortunately US is happening today, someone is ruining that country. making it looks bad.

Budget-Breakfast1476

This feels like things you’d read about in history as events leading up to tensions rising before war

BadNewsBearzzz

They've already broken his tariff BS, wait for this entire "power" to get overturned in a month.

BigChicken8666

I know he’s the president but America should question/check his executive order or whatever it’s supposed to be a democracy right.

If the people choose him they better be able to remove him, he is super unstable!

tshungwee

And of course that asshole is on the thumbnail

dropkickurteacher

Rich Chinese students bring in so much money to mid-tier state schools it's not even funny. Wile many may be happy to see the sports cars go, it will have a huge negative impact on American education overall

Motor_Technology_814

As a Chinese, thanks god the only thing left for me is some summer online courses.

Crimson_Koi

AgainstTheSky_SUP

Shouldn’t Chinese be thankful for this? No reason to go to the US because China is such a great country,developing and full of freedom.

Almost sees ironic the Chinese are getting what they asked for

Store-Secure

Ah, so that's how China will meet its GDP growth targets.

Uranophane

Wtf what did China ever do to deserve this?

Equivalent_Equal1166

To be honest, my friends, I’m not at all surprised. Even if it weren't Trump, policies toward Chinese students would still be tightening.

I’m Chinese, born in Shanghai, and later moved to Hong Kong.  
I did my undergraduate studies in the U.S., completed my master's degree in Europe, and earned my PhD in Switzerland.

I’ve found that Chinese people are particularly strong in science and engineering, and extremely hardworking. Most importantly, we have our own circles.  
These circles ensure that while we may "superficially integrate," we can still strengthen our own ethnic group's independence.

I wouldn’t say that overseas Chinese have a particularly high level of loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, but when it comes to loyalty to China itself, we’re definitely among the top across all ethnic groups.

Countless Chinese who publicly denounce the CCP's atrocities on social media are quietly investing and buying property in China.  
There’s a peculiar belief among many that China will inevitably return to the glory of the Han or Tang dynasties—at which point we can once again enjoy the tribute system as the “noble Celestial Empire.”

More_Caramel_7285

When you can't defeat them, errr ... expel them !

But in all seriousness, there are quite a few high profile cases of IP stealing by Chinese students. It's almost impossible for US to say which one will work for the CCP and which on won't. The CCP has a wide network of collaborators/agents in the West, hell they even operate a few underground police stations here in America!

Suck for the Chinese students, suck for the US, no one would win in this matter.

ImperiumRome

It seems reasonable to not extend visas to people affiliated with the CCP and in fields important to national security.

recursing_noether

Our greatest success against China would be those students wanting to stay here

oldspice75

I'm Chinese and I'll miss the pizza, hamburgers, steak and cheese.   Please send me a care package

MikeOxlongnready

So basically the goal at this point is to bar all international students from attending university in the US? Whats next, kicking out international workers on Visa? Im fairly sure thats next so more Americans can take those jobs. Im sure they'll eventually move on to cutting back on green card issuance and then slowing down or stopping naturalizing citizens altogether. Definitely a scary path this administration is headed down.

m0rbius

So even if we want to issue fewer visas, what the fuck is with rescinding visas of people already studying?

We're unhinged.

aniflous_fleglen

My Chinese student got 2 original papers and 2 review papers within 4 years. Honestly a fucking waste of potential if her visa got revoked. Same apply to other hardworking students.

_Hello_Hi_Hey_

Universities are very vulnerable to death spiraling. Universities are successful because they are seen as successful, and so it attracts successful people who contribute their success to the University. It takes decades if not a century to build the kind of reputation that Ivy League Universities have. It’s also a zero sum game in some ways, because if a student is studying at your University, then they are excluded from contributing their talents to another.

Universities are a game where the rich get richer. The best Universities attract the best students and get the most funding. It’s much easier to produce better output than everyone else in a virtuous cycle. The second you start slipping, it’s very easy to go into a death spiral. How do you improve the quality of your output when you can’t attract the best students and the most funding? University rankings in an equilibrium is extremely stable because of this. These policies introduce chaos and volatility into the system, allowing those rankings to shift dramatically. That’s not something you want when you’re currently dominating the top.

TonySu

I expect this will fuck up the economy of my small University town, which relies on a lot of foreign students, particularly Chinese, for financial stability.

hoffsta

this is how USA’s lead in science and technology gets destroyed.

gizcard

Tbh the funniest part of this is that only well off Chinese students can even afford to attend uni overseas, so mostly what they're losing is rich people money.

lyerhis

First, Chinese students.

Next, all international students.

It will come like this probably. Very unfortunate.

wafflepiezz

Isn't every successful Chinese student who finds an education, work in the US a direct gain for the US and axpense to China? Not understanding the logic here.

MegaFatcat100

This is just an updated version of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882…Supremacy is failing

Ahahhaha the US is self isolating like North Korea, funny

Demiurge010

I don’t believe they’ll risk coming back even if this gets reversed. 

They’ll go to Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and bring their money with them.

machopsychologist

Does it mean that the students who are already studying in the states might be deported if affected?

AdHaunting954

Universities get full tuition from many international students. This is a sneaky way to break the higher education system economically.

What if the international students are applying to Christian colleges?

HippyGrrrl

Ok. China will win again by doing nothing.

Trump just fixed Chinese brain drain problem 😀

stc2828

It's all part of the plan. If they get rid of international students then a lot of universities will lose money and as such some may even have to shut down. With less access to good education, people become more ignorant. The stupid, the ignorant and the uneducated are more susceptible to propaganda brainwashing from assholes like the Trump administration. As such their popularity grows.

MetalRanga

Wonder if foreign/immigrant chinese parents will stop dickriding trump because oh but hes funny lolololol

MentionQuiet1055

Those eyes are deader than Mr. Beast’s.

neologismist_

This is not trump only.  This is Republicans.  They as a group are allowing this.

millos15

The veil on his white supremacy agenda is so fucking thin.

Sutar_Mekeg

Can we shoot ourselves in the foot any more than this? Oh, yeah, yes we definitely can.

A ton of scientific research that benefits the US directly is based on the students that are studying and working here.

They just run on fear and loathing, and don't even try to work on keeping talent in the US.

luv2ctheworld

This is what "Owning the Libs" looks like:

"If applied to a broad segment of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese university students in the United States, the move could disrupt a major source of income for American schools and a crucial pipeline of talent for U.S. technology companies."

The damage will be incalculable. America has One MIT, China has Twelve. Chinese students will just stay in China, or go to the other hundreds of top tier universities around the world. How is this going to hurt China?

Ok_Recognition_6727

The Chinese have a huge contribution in America's success. Even the entire world knows it. This orangutan is gonna fuck up USA 

Silly-Ad-931

The US has decided to revoke visas for Chinese students linked to the Communist Party, citing national security. This move impacts thousands of students amid delicate US-China diplomatic relations.

US Visa Policy for Chinese Students and Geopolitical Tensions

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